from the innocent days early in the 21st century

Honey Comes to Stay

Tuesday, July 11, 2006
We have on more than one occasion referred to the procession of types that pass through and by our Playa Vista enclave… both invited and uninvited. For example some of you will remember that persistent green woodpecker (see archives Sept. 29, 2004 or Feb. 19, 2005), who incidentally has not entirely given up his visits but is very much less aggressive in attacking the structure of our buildings than in the past…. Maybe he has learned the art of Caribbean easy-goingness or maybe he’s worn out or… perhaps both?
Anyway… towards the end of a quiet Caribbean day recently a very small scrawny largely tabby kitten appeared in our courtyard, and once that first bowl of milk was provided she stayed all night right next to the empty bowl. Within a whisker of a time she fitted right in to the pattern of the constantly moving lifestyle that Playa Vista presents. A few more bowls of milk and a couple of German sausages later her scrawniness had gone even if her smallness hadn’t.
We have now had time to thoroughly associate ourselves with her and perhaps more importantly her with us, and by all observations her personality seems to be exactly ideal. She is extremely affectionate but not over-doting, curious beyond the norm, adaptable, forgiving, and definitely agile as proven by her attempts to trip up the Italian football players on Playa Vista’s giant screen in the World Cup semi-final. By all accounts she has already used up a good part of her nine lives. Before arriving at Playa Vista she was witnessed by a neighbor who claimed that some very heartless individual decided to toss her far out in to the ocean after she made her first venture on to the beach. After being rescued by another, this time valiant, passer-by she then had to be hooked from underneath the noses of the feral dogs loping around on the beach and placed behind the safety of the Playa Vista gate.
She does seem extremely happy to be here, definitely she is thriving and for now she is very welcome. We just don’t have a name for her yet. She is called anything from Kitty through Mis Mis to Katzen-Jammer. If she stays on we probably have to come up with a proper one.

PS. Soon after this the name of “Honey” stuck rather well. She certainly had a sweetness about her and her coat was dusted with a honey color. Her life has been compacted for posterity (for now that is) in two short Youtube videos: